Bronze Night Out
by Lupo669
Summary: Who would want an all powerful magic metal glove?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters contained within.

That would be Joss Whedon, Stan Lee, Marvel Comics

It was another night at the Bronze. Dingo's Ate my Baby was on the stage finishing up their second set of the night. Willow, Xander and Cordelia were sitting at a table listening to the music and trading barbs about the people on the dance floor. All except one person on the dance floor.

Faith was moving to the music. Her form too fluid, too graceful to be merely human. It seemed as though instead of responding to the music, her body anticipated it, embraced it, defined it. There were at least four guys trying to get her attention by weaving in and out in front of her. She would spend a moment dancing with one, bringing him into her circle of rhythm, then move on to the next in a continuous spiral of grace in motion.

The Dingo's finished up and took a break. Oz, the bass player, came to the table with the Scoobies and sat down next to Willow. While he still had not completely forgiven her for the incident with Xander while being held captive by Spike, he did still love her and was trying to work past it. For Willow's part she was doing all she could and then some to not give the slightest impression that she would be interested in anyone but the stoic werewolf.

With the song and set over, Faith came over to the table at the same time. "Hey, anybody seen B?" she asked grabbing a drink off the table and taking a sip.

"Not since last class" Willow responded. "I think she just wanted to spend some time with her mom tonight. You know, do the 'I really appreciate you not grounding me for all the late nights even if I am the slayer and destined to save the world', thing. I also think there was going to be chick flicks."

"Damn girl, don't you ever have to breath?"

Xander laughed, "That's my Willow. To her babble is an art form." Then looking at Oz. "I mean my Willow as in my friend Willow, my sister type Willow, not my own personal snuggle bunny Willow or anything……"

Oz just said "Xander, I get it."

Cordelia sighed looking bored, "Isn't there anyone here worth talking to?" I mean, Faith you just had four, count em four, hot guy's drooling all over you and you just walked away." What's the deal? You batting for the home team now?"

"Why you tired of driving stick?" Faith asked smiling and raising an eyebrow at Cordy.

"No, no nothing like that. It's just that since I started hanging with you losers, everyone treats me like Typhoid Mary. I can't get a date to save my life."

"Again I ask, why are you so interested in who I'd do?"

Instead of responding Cordy just got up and walked away to talk to Harmony who was at the pool table with some of the other cheerleaders.

"Well, now that Queen C is gone what say we get this party started?" Xander said.

"As much as I'd like to hang, the guys are ready to start the last set" Oz said as he stood to return to the stage. "See you guys later"

"I'm gonna jet too" Faith said finishing her drink. "I think I'll try to track down B and see if she wants to patrol" Then she turned and left.

Faith was gone about 15 minutes when all of a sudden the door to the Bronze blew in. The door had come completely off its hinges hitting a group of guys that were standing at the entrance. In strode a man wearing some kind of costume. It looked like he was wearing a gladiator breastplate and long purple cloak.

With a wave of his hand all the metal tables flew to the other side of the room. "I want the Glove of Myhnegon" he stated in a loud commanding voice. "Where is the fool, Lagos, who was to acquire it for me?" he continued on. No one moved as the new comer walked casually into the room as if he had not a care in the world. "I'm not use to waiting, so I would suggest that you give me what I want before I decide to amuse myself to pass the time."

So saying he made a gesture with his right hand and one of the music stands from the stage rose into the air and floated towards a pretty blonde standing by the bar. It slowly started stretching and wrapped itself around her chest. The next moment she started screaming loud enough to shatter glass and you could see the metal of the music stand starting to sink into her flesh.

As the metal band around her clamped down, and the flesh on her arms and chest bulged over the place where it was tightening, blood started to run down her clothes to splash on the floor. The scream went on and on gainging in both volumn and pitch until finally it was cut off like someone threw a switch. The poor girl slumped to the floor as the metal music stand returned to its original shape and settled on the floor next to her.

Xander leaned over to Willow and whispered, "You need to go find Faith and get Buffy. This guy doesn't know both Lagos and the glove are gone. We're gonna need both slayers to get rid of the magnet man." I'll cover you while you sneak out the back."

With that Xander made a point of stumbling over his own feet to draw every eye in the place to where he was. As everyone's attention was focused on Xander, Willow quietly slipped behind a curtain and moved down the hall to leave by the rear exit. She would start at Buffy's house then hit the cemeteries to try and find the slayers. She prayed all the way that she would not be too late.


	2. Curiouser and Curiouser

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters contained within.

That would be Joss Whedon, Stan Lee, Marvel Comics

Curiouser and Curiouser

After swinging by Buffy's house and not finding the slayers there, Willow headed out to start checking the local cemeteries. She finally found Faith and Buffy as they were just coming up to Holmestead cemetery. It had been about 30 minutes since she had snuck out of the Bronze and she could feel time slipping away, the chance to save someone else from dying sliding through her hands.

"Quick, you guys have to come back to the Bronze" she gasped out as she came running up to them. Buffy took in the paler than usual look to Willows face and wide darting eyes. "Willow, what's wrong? Why are you out here alone?" Buffy asked.

Panting and trying to catch her breath Willow tried to explain what happened after Faith left the Bronze. She actually managed to keep the babble to a minimum. "Faith left, bad man came, a girl died, Xander and Oz are still there!!"

The two slayers were moving almost before Willow had finished speaking. Buffy shouted back over her shoulder, "Willow, go to my house and stay there. We'll get the guys out and meet you back there."

Faith mumbled beside Buffy, "Can't leave them alone for a minute without someone trying to kill them." Running at full out Slayer speed, it only took them a few minutes to reach the Bronze. "How you wanna play this?" asked Faith as they stopped outside the club.

Buffy replied "We go in, we see, we kick ass, simple."

"My kinda plan" Faith said with a grin and walked through the missing front door.

Inside-

There are some moments in life that will stay with you forever; this was one of them for the Slayers.

Half a dozen people were being held up against the wall by what looked like the metal legs from chairs piercing their shoulders. Their heads were lolling to the side as they whimpered or cried from the pain.

There were others lying on the floor. Some cut open and bleeding others appearing to have been through a juicer. There was blood everywhere they looked. The cause of all this misery was nowhere to be seen. Chained on the floor next to the stage was Oz. The only way they knew it was him was due to the partial change into wolf form that must of occurred during his torture.

Of Xander there was no sign.

"Get Oz outta here," Buffy yelled to Faith "I'll call the cops and see who I can help. After Oz is in a safe place, come back and give me a hand"

Faith, who had moved through the club looking for the cause of this butchery, called back "Seems like the creep that did this has motored. This just proves there's such a thing as human monsters B." She came over to Oz who was only semi conscious, hefted him over her shoulder and paused at the front door. "You gonna be alright if that clown comes back?" she asked.

Buffy looked over at the younger Slayer. Faith saw a look in her eyes that reminded her that Buffy's cheerleader appearance was just that, an appearance. "Yea, in fact I'm kinda hoping to have a little quality time with him whenever we track his ass down."

Faith turned away with a grin on her face that made her dimples show. She really loved the occasional peeks at Buffy's dark side that came out whenever friends or family were threatened. Those glimpses made her feel better about the dark side of her own personality. After all, if an upper middleclass, fashion and status conscious, tiny blonde could want to rip something to shreds every once in awhile, Faith shouldn't feel too bad about enjoying the violence that being a slayer brought to her life.

Meanwhile-

Willow was about four blocks from Buffy's house when she noticed the group of people moving through the night. It appeared to be two men and a woman gliding from shadow to shadow, just outside of the circles of light thrown by the streetlights.

As she quickened her pace another woman stepped out of nowhere right in front of her and grabbed her arm. Willow tried to turn and run but the woman's grip felt like steel. Turning back to face her, Willow saw she was a vampire and now she was in full game face. The other three vampires came up from behind and formed a circle around her.

Oh shit.

Trapped, alone, and with no escape, Willow let out an ear splitting scream as the vampire in front of her plunged her mouth down towards Willow's exposed neck, fangs fully extended. Knowing her death was at hand Willow closed her eyes and waited for the sharp pain of teeth sinking into her.

Instead she heard a slight poof sound along with the smell of ozone. She then felt dust raining down on her face. The grip on her arm was gone. She started to run and opening her eyes she saw a man and a woman that appeared to be wearing black leather body suits attacking the vampires.

Even better they were winning.

The man turned to the male vamp on Willow's right and touched the visor he wore over his eyes at the temple. A bright narrow red beam was emitted from his eyes, immediately vaporizing the vampire. Meanwhile, the leather clad woman had already dusted the other woman vampire and was fighting the last one using balls of what looked like ultra violet light. These seemed to slowly grow out of the very air, forming in her hands. As the light balls would leave her hands they trailed sparkles and at any other time would have been a pretty light show.

The vampire had either wised up or was getting lucky since the last few light balls thrown his way missed him by inches. "Cyclops, a little help would be appreciated here", she said. Obviously she was talking to the man in black. He turned to face the vampire that was beginning to look for a way to escape and touching his visor once again, turned the vamp into a pile of ash.

Willow stood there staring, her mouth hanging slightly open as she tried to figure out who these strangers could be. She had never before seen anything like the way they were using light to kill the vamps. Although the way they moved and worked with each other, reminded her a little of Buffy and Faith when they were in slayer mode.

The woman came over to Willow and said "Hi, I'm Jubilee. That's Cyclops. Are you alright? Did they hurt you or draw blood anywhere?"

Willow's mouth snapped closed as she realized these people seemed to know about vampires and more, knew how to kill them. "Ah, yes, I'm alright. No, I'm not bit or bleeding. My turn, who are you guys, and where did you come from?", Willow shot back.

The one called Cyclops asked, "Is there someplace we can go to talk? This could take a little time."


	3. It's Gonna Be a Long Night

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters contained within.

That would be Joss Whedon, Stan Lee, Marvel Comics

It's Gonna Be a Long Night

Faith reached the high school library in record time. Fortunately in Sunnydale not only do the residents tend to stay in at night, there are almost never any cops just cruising around. It just wouldn't have been pretty if she was stopped and asked to explain why she was carrying around a half formed werewolf.

As she entered the library, Rupert Giles was coming out of his office. "Faith, good Lord, what happened to Oz? It is still three days to the full moon", he said while setting aside the cup of tea from his hand. He hurried over to help put Oz inside the gated section of the library where he could be locked in until the change wore off. This section was originally designed to protect old and valuable books, but now is used to store some of the weapons the slayers needed for their calling.

"Long story short G-man, bad stuff happened at the Bronze, Oz and Xan-man got caught up in it. This is the way we found Oz, but it looks like he's already healed most of the damage. We can't find Xander and Oz isn't talkative right now", Faith said, then she headed back to the door. "I gotta jet, B is still at the Bronze working mop up and I promised to give her a hand. Keep an eye on wolfie for us, when we're done we'll grab Wills and come back to brainstorm." With that she disappeared through the doors leaving Giles standing by the cage, watching Oz's still form and polishing his glasses.

#

"Thanks for letting us wait here Ms. Summers", Willow said with a small smile. Since she was only a short distance from Buffy's house when she had her close encounter of the vampire kind, she thought it would be best to take her rescuers there to wait for Buffy and Faith to show up. Besides, since Ms. Summers found out about Slayers, she was kinda used to the weirdness of her daughter's life.

Joyce Summers tore her eyes away from the two leather clad people Willow showed up on her front door step with. "You're always welcome here Willow, you know that", she said and gave the red head a smile. "Can I get you and your friends anything to eat or drink?" The one constant rule Joyce followed was, when in doubt, offer refreshments. If the strangers with Willow wouldn't eat or drink there was a good chance they were some sort of demon, or just not hungry.

Either way it was better to be safe than sorry.

Willow said "Yes please Ms. Summers, something to drink would be great." The girl next to her agreed and the boy with the strange sunglasses just nodded his head. "Okay." Joyce said, "Why don't you all go sit in the living room and I'll bring some sodas in a moment." She then turned and went to the kitchen.

As soon as the door shut behind her Cyclops turned to Willow and started the questions. "Why are we here? Who is that woman and why is she so used to strange people showing up at her door?" Willow faced him and put on her best angry face. "First of all mister, we're here waiting for my friends to come back from an errand they ran, secondly that happens to be my best friends mom, and thirdly would you rather she just left you out on the street?"

Jubilee was sitting there grinning at Cyclops. She loved watching someone give him back shit when he went into overlord mode and started spouting orders. She watched the pale red head, trying to figure out what she could possibly have lived through to give her that wary look in her eye. Although, she did narrowly miss getting eaten by a couple of vampires not even a half hour ago. Come to think of it, the girl didn't seem all that surprised that vampires existed and were free to roam the streets. Jubilee decided that Willow would bear watching. There was something more than just your average run of the mill almost victim standing here.

She shook herself out of her musings to refocus on the conversation (read argument) that was taking place in front of her. Cyclops was saying, "What do you mean we have to stay here until your friends come back?" Willow replied voice rising, "We have to stay here because it's not safe outside right now." Cyclops shouted back "We know it's not safe; we just saved your ass from 

being killed or worse." Willow shot back, "There are more dangerous things out there than vampires. While we're on the subject, how did you and Jubilee fry those vamps anyway?"

That question seemed to dissolve Cyclops irritation. He sighed and said, "You may as well know up front, Jubilee and I are mutants." Willow's eyes widened slightly at this revelation. Cyclops continued, "We both have different abilities, mine is the ability to soak up solar energy from the sun and being able to release it from my eyes. The downside is that it can never be turned off, that's why I need this visor. Ruby quartz lenses diffuse the energy so I don't have to keep my eyes closed all the time. Jubilee's talent is being able to generate ultra violet light into explosive plasma that she can launch at targets." She can use it to blast anyone who attacks her."

Willow remembered reading some articles on the internet about mutants. There was a group that worked together to help police the more radical mutant element and called themselves the X-men. She said to Cyclops, "I think I've heard something about the X-gene and the effects it has on people who have it. But, I don't know much more."

Before they could say anything else, Joyce came back in with the promised sodas. "Thank you Ms. Summers", Cyclops said while passing out the drinks. "By the way my name is Scott Summers and this is Jubilation Lee. It's quite a coincidence that we have the same last name, huh?"

"Yes, though it is a pretty common name", Joyce replied. "In any event it's nice to meet you both. Willow, where is Buffy? I thought she was going to meet up with you guy's at the Bronze." As Willow was scrambling for an answer that wouldn't send Buffy's mom to the hospital with a heart attack, the front door opened and Buffy and Faith came in.

Willow jumped up saying, "Where are the guys? Are they all right? Why aren't they with you? Tell me what happened. Did you catch that guy?"

Faith said, "Yo Red, slow down. Give us a chance and we'll clue you up. Damn, breathe girl, breathe."

Willow nodded her head and tried to calm down. It wasn't easy since she was so worried about Oz and Xander that her stomach hurt. "Okay, okay." She said more to herself than the room.

Buffy looked past Willow and stared at the two strangers standing in her living room. "And you would be who?" she asked.

Jubilee started to make the introductions but Willow interrupted her. "They gave me a hand with some trouble I had on the way over here. So I asked them to come with me so you guys could all meet."

"Well we'll have to do introductions on the fly. We need to go see Giles; he's keeping an eye on Oz for us and we can fill you in on what happened on the way." Buffy said. "Looks like it's gonna be another long night"

Faith added, "You two want to come? I gotta feeling your story is gonna be pretty good and I love your taste in fashion."

Jubilee looked at Scott and he said, "Yea, we'll come. I still have some questions for Willow I would like answered. Thank you for the hospitality Ms. Summers." With that they went out the door while Buffy said goodbye to her mom, promising to tell her everything when she had a chance.


	4. Show Me Yours I'll Show You Mine

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters contained within.

That would be Joss Whedon, Stan Lee, Marvel Comics

You Show Me Yours, I'll Show You Mine

&

After leaving the house, Buffy suggested cutting through the woods to get to the high school library a little faster. This would also give them some privacy while they told Willow what they found when they had went to the Bronze. When the two new comers started to object based on the dangers of being out in the woods at night, Faith simply stared them into submission.

Cyclops mumbled, "It's your funeral", and started walking. Jubilee fell into step beside him and whispered, "We'll have to babysit all of them now." Faith let out a snort and shook her head. Looking over at Buffy she saw a small smile on the older slayers lips and knew she heard the comment with her enhanced hearing as well.

"Okay Buffy, we're away from your mom so spill, what happened at the Bronze? Why did Faith have to take Oz to Giles and why didn't you mention anything about Xander?" Willow demanded. Willow watched Buffy's eyes cut to Cyclops and Jubilee, then back to Willow with eyebrows raised. Willow answered her unasked question, "Yea, we'll get to that in a minute, but first I gotta know what's going on. You can talk in front of them, it'll be alright."

Buffy let out a sigh, "Okay, when we got to the Bronze the bad guy had already left. Oz was chained up on the floor and a lot of people were hurt and bleeding. Faith took Oz to Giles to watch over since he was partially changed from fighting. We couldn't find any sign of Xander. I called the cops and they came with a lot of EMT's to help the others. I told them I had just showed up and didn't know what happened, so they let me go. I met Faith as I was leaving and we came back to my house."

Faith jumped in, "So, the Watcher is watching wolfie, the civvies are being taken care of by the boys in blue, and you picked up the bondage bunch. Care to explain that last?"

Willow started to blush at the comment and told them about being surrounded by vampires when Cyclops and Jubilee saved her. She then explained that their new acquaintances' were mutants that could use their powers to kill the vamps. The slayers looked at each other, and then over to the leather clad X-men.

"So the leather jumpsuits aren't just a fetish, but more of a uniform?" Buffy asked.

Faith said "Damn, I was thinking the dating scene just got a little more interesting." She was staring at Jubilee when she said this which made the girl more than slightly uncomfortable and she started to squirm. "Relax Sunshine," Faith laughed. "I'm just pulling your chain."

Cyclops said, "We wear these because they help protect us from some of the damage we're exposed to while fighting. Now if you guys are done busting our chops, can you explain why you know about vampires and why you're not worried about being out after dark?"

"How about if we save the whole 'One girl in all the world, yada, yada, yada' until we see Giles. He just loves to give that speech." Buffy said smiling.

"Who is Giles?" Jubilee asked.

"Basically Buffy and I are Slayers, as in vampire slayers. Though we will take down demons and other evil beings when they get outta hand", Faith explained. "Rupert Giles is Buffy's Watcher, someone who helps identify the bad guys and helps us to figure out how to kill it. He sorta got stuck with me after my Watcher turned out to be evil."

It was Cyclops turn to laugh, "You expect us to believe that you two little girls go around fighting and killing demons, vampires, whatever and live to joke about it? I think not." Cyclops missed the look that came into the Slayers eyes at being called little girls, but Jubilee definitely didn't. She reached out a hand to grab Cyclops's arm just as both slayers stopped and stood perfectly still, they seemed to be listening to something no one else could hear.

Faith spoke up in a low voice, "Okay one eye. Here's your chance, we're coming up on a group of about eight vampires in the clearing up ahead. You and Sunshine see how many you can take out. Me and B will hang back until you can't handle it anymore, then you'll see what being a slayer means. You show me yours and I'll show you mine, agreed?"

Cyclops said "You're on." Then turning to Jubilee continued, "It'll be just like in the Danger room back at the mansion. We'll cover each other's back and take them out quick. Ready?"

"Yea", Jubilee replied, "Let's get it done." With that they started moving as quietly as they could towards the clearing.

Buffy stood there watching them go. She whispered to Willow, "When the fighting starts stay hidden until it's over. I don't know how good these guys are, but I'm willing to bet they have never been up against eight vampires half of which are over a hundred years old."

Out in the clearing the vampires stopped talking and started sniffing the air. One of them said, "Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum, I smell the blood of a mutated one." They all turned to where Cyclops and Jubilee were just coming through the tree line.

Jubilee said "You're a fine one to talk of people smelling, I can smell blood and death on your breath from here. Haven't you guys ever heard of breath mints?" Cyclops was moving off to her left to give them some maneuvering room for the coming fight. The vampires didn't take the insult so lightly. They rushed the X-men in a blur of speed. Jubilee got off a shot of plasma that took off one of their arms. Blood spurted out into the night before the opened blood vessels were cauterized by the energy blast. The rest of the vamp went up in flames too quickly for him to put himself out. One down seven to go.

Cyclops couldn't believe how fast these beings were. He was firing random blasts of solar energy where he thought they should be, in the hopes of hitting them before they were to close for his optic beams to do any good. All in all things were not looking good for the X-men. Two of the vamps got in behind Jubilee and pinned her arms, this rendered her powers useless since her hands were the focal point of her power. Two others had caught Cyclops in a similar hold. He was turned to face Jubilee so he dared not trigger an optic blast. With an arm like steel around his neck, he too was powerless.

The vampires were gloating over their new found fortune. "I love when dinner is delivered. No fuss, no muss, and no slayers to worry about." One of them said as he started moving into Jubilee's throat.

"Well two outta three ain't bad, right B", a laughing voice came out of the night. The vampires whipped around searching for the owner of the voice while still holding their captives. "Yea Faith, but they're also about to find a whole lotta fuss and muss", Buffy said.

The two Slayers entered the clearing from opposite sides, with the group of vampires and the X-men between them. Buffy was twirling her wooden stake Mr. Pointy on her palm in continuous circles. Faith was sauntering in swinging her hips like she was on a fashion runway. Two of the vampires not holding hostages moved towards Faith, the other one went for Buffy. Faith did a quick forward flip while pulling her own stake from her boot. When she landed between the vamps, she shoved her stake into the heart of one turning him to dust while backhanding the other to send him flying into the trees.

Buffy made a lunging motion with the hand that was spinning Mr. Pointy and when the vampire looked down, the hole in his chest that the stake had left was the last thing he saw as he dissolved into ash. Faith was already on top of the one that she threw into the trees and just about to dust him, so Buffy started in on the four holding Jubilee and Cyclops.

Cyclops and Jubilee could not believe what they were seeing. The two girls, Buffy and Faith, actually were moving faster than the vampires could. They were more agile than the X-men would have given them credit for and seemed strong enough to give Rogue a run for her money. 'So much for them just being little girls', Cyclops thought wryly.

Buffy seemed to disappear from where she was standing after staking a vampire and then reappeared by their side, twisting the head off of one vamp and kicking another away from them. This allowed Jubilee the use of her hands and she quickly formed a plasma blast to destroy the vampire that was kicked away.

Faith was finished with her vamp and appeared along side of Cyclops, "Hey one eye, what are you waiting for? Blast em." She said as she threw one of the vamps holding Cyclops into the middle of the clearing. She then cut off the head of the other one with a knife she had pulled from somewhere, turning it into ashes in the wind. Cyclops triggered his visor releasing an optic beam and the vampire in the clearing exploded in a cloud of dust.

Willow came out of the trees, "Hey, is everyone alright?" she asked.

Faith looked around and smiled, "Yea, five by five Red, how about you?"

"There's not a lot of danger when hiding in a bush" Willow replied.

Buffy came over to stand next to Faith and Willow. Cyclops and Jubilee seemed to be frozen in place. They could only stare at the Slayers. One dark, one light, both of them better fighters than either Jubilee or Cyclops had seen in a long time, and they had seen a lot of fighters. Cyclops found his voice first; "I think we owe you two an apology" he started. "Why haven't we ever heard of slayers before now?"

"We try not to advertise" Buffy responded, "and you're not the one that said we needed babysitting." Jubilee had the courtesy to blush slightly. Buffy continued "Anyhow we really need to meet up with Giles at the library. He'll be able to answer any of your questions and help us figure out where to start looking for our friend Xander."

With that they all moved off, heading out of the woods and towards the school, each of them caught up in thoughts of their strange new companions.


	5. What's the What

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters contained within.

That would be Joss Whedon, Stan Lee, Marvel Comics

What's the What

&

A little while later Buffy, Faith, Willow and the two X-men arrived at the library. Coming through the door first, Buffy stopped suddenly, nearly causing the others to stumble over her. They would have too, if Faith hadn't had slayer reflexes quick enough to grab Willow and at the same time stop Cyclops from running into her back. Peering over Buffy's shoulder they could see what stopped the blonde slayer in her tracks.

There, lying on the table in the middle of the library was Xander. He wasn't looking in the best condition either. His pants and shirt were torn. There was blood on his pant leg, apparently coming from a long gash on the side of his thigh. There was a purple and green bruise on the side of his face that they could see. His eyes were closed and only the slayers could detect the slight rise and fall of his chest indicating he still lived. To the others he looked like he was stone dead.

Giles was standing by the table Xander was lying on. It looked like he was preparing to bandage the wound on Xander's leg. Since he had his back to the door, he didn't see the group as they entered. When Willow let out a cry of "XANDER" he spun around so quickly that he lost his footing and fell backward on top of the injured boy.

Xander let out a long groan and said "Gee Giles, like I haven't had enough pain inflicted on me tonight?" Willow came running over to the table with Buffy and Faith right behind her. "What happened to you, Xan? Buffy and Faith said you weren't at the Bronze when they got there. How'd ya get away? What happened to the psycho in the purple cloak? Did he make you go with him?"

"Easy there Will, I'm basically fine. A little banged up from a romp through the cemetery but otherwise A-Okay", Xander said while sitting up on the table. It was easier to do now that Giles had regained his footing and wasn't sitting on his legs anymore. "Who're the double bondage duo with you guys?" he asked with a ghost of his usual smirk as Giles resumed bandaging his leg.

"This is Scott Summers, no relation to Buffy as far as we know, and Jubilation Lee" Willow said, "otherwise known as Cyclops and Jubilee. They helped me out earlier with some vamps, then Faith and Buffy had to save them while we were on our way here." Then putting on her resolve face she said to him, "No more stalling mister. You better get giving with the explanations or you're really gonna start hurting."

"Alright, alright, already", Xander began, "you know what happened at the Bronze. Then you left and the guy in the cloak start ranting and raving some more about the Glove of Myhnegon and how it would help him consolidate something he called the Brotherhood. He had killed that first girl and started hurting more people, all the time saying how he was going to make Lagos pay for his failure. Oz tried to stop him and the guy made part of the railing by the bar into metal chains that bound him up. Then he started squeezing him. I guess the pain brought on the change in Oz and he started to turn into the wolf." They all cast a glance at the caged area where Oz was laying, still unconscious.

"I told him I knew about the glove and where it was supposed to be hidden. I said we would have to go and look for it in a tomb. He took me with him and I led him to the cemetery where Angel found it." Xander saw the momentary look of grief on Buffy's face and offered an apologetic smile. Angel had gotten too close to the Living Flame while destroying the Glove of Myhnegon and ended up a pile of ash on the mansion floor. It seems "Living Flame" was literal, as in the flame was sentient. When Angel conjured it the glove was devoured, then the flame detected a vampire and launched at him. Buffy had been there at the time, but could do nothing to save him. She seemed to be getting better, but if you knew her well enough, every once in a while you could see the memory lurking in her eyes.

"When we got to the tomb", Xander continued "he was distracted opening the door, so I ran for it. Having the memories of a trained soldier helped me evade him. The fact that old cemeteries are mostly trees, grass and marble certainly helped. No metal for him to use against me. When I got to the back wall I had to climb over. My leg got caught on one of the glass spikes on top and I fell to the ground hitting my face. Then I got up and made my way here."

"You were lucky to get out alive", Buffy said. "From the looks of what was left at the Bronze this guy would have had no problem killing you and leaving your body wherever it dropped. The big questions now are who he is, and where can we find him. Giles, have you ever heard of someone who could manipulate metal like that?"

"No, I can't say that I have" Giles responded taking his glasses off to polish them, he had finished bandaging Xander's leg while listening to his story. "I'm not sure that is even a demon power. Although he may be some sort of sorcerer or wizard. I'd have to check my books to see if there are any references to that kind of thing being reported. I could also check the Watcher diaries, but it doesn't sound like anything a slayer has encountered before.

Cyclops and Jubilee remained silent through this part of the conversation, observing how this strange bunch of people interacted and gathering what information they could.

As Giles moved off to track down his reference books, Xander basked in the group hugs he was getting. He thought he would never see his friends again. When the teasing and jokes had died down a little, he turned to Cyclops and Jubilee saying, "Thanks for saving Will, she's my best bud and I don't know what I'd do without her. How'd you guys manage to save her from vampires?"

The X-men had been standing off to the side waiting for the reunion to slow down some. They both had distracted looks on their faces. Cyclops answered the question, "We're mutants. Our abilities are based in solar and ultraviolet light energy. Vampires are extremely allergic to sun light, so we were able to help."

Jubilee picked up the conversation "We're members of a group of mutants based out of New York called the X-men. Our mentor Charles Xavier gathered a bunch of us together to help protect the human race from radical mutants that want to rule over normal humans. They feel that being a mutant makes them better than everyone else. I gotta tell you, we've seen a lot a mutants and mutant powers in our time with the X-men, but have rarely seen anyone come close to the speed, strength and agility of these two", she said indicating Faith and Buffy.

Giles had come back into the main library as Jubilee was speaking and he heard the last part of the conversation. "Professor Charles Xavier? Of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning?" he asked.

Cyclops replied, "Yes, the one and only. Why, do you know him?"

"No, not personally," Giles responded, "only by his reputation and through contacts at the Watchers Council. It seems that many years ago the Council tried to entice the professor to join the Watchers Council. They thought that having such a tremendous telepath with them would give them an advantage over the forces of darkness. Unfortunately for them, they had sent Quentin Travers to negotiate and it seems Professor Xavier didn't care for what was lurking in Travers's mind."

Faith had taken a seat at the table and casually threw her legs up on it to get comfortable. She looked at Buffy and said in a bored voice "Can we please finish the getting to know you bullshit so we can concentrate on finding the bad guy? You know the track em, rack em, bag em, and tag em part is my favorite."

"Yea, just one more thing" Buffy said turning to Giles with an evil look in her eyes. "Giles, they've told us their story, how about you give them 'The Speech'. Pleeaase, you know you want to."

"Oh for god's sake," Giles replied taking off his glasses once again, and rubbing away at the bridge of his nose he started, "The world is much older than everyone thinks……"

"……….so for the first time in Watcher history, we have two slayers instead of one. Needless to say this has been a tremendous boost for the powers of good." Giles wound down some twenty minutes later.

Xander, Willow, Buffy and Faith gave slightly mocking applause. "Oh, sod off," Giles mumbled as he turned to get some tea.

Faith said "Great, now that story time is over, how about we get started figuring out where we go from here."

"I need to make a phone call to be sure" Cyclops said, "but I think we can help."

Jubilee asked "Magneto?"

"Sure sounds like it", Cyclops responded. "Let me make a call to the Professor, then we'll know if it could be him. If he has started trying to meld magic with his powers we're gonna have bigger problems than we ever faced before."

"His mutant power is the ability to manipulate magnetic fields of energy" Jubilee added. "He's one of the most powerful mutants alive today. He was Professor Xavier's friend a long time ago, before he started his campaign for mutant supremacy."

"If you can track him down" Buffy said, "we can handle the magic end of things."

"Yea" Faith agreed, "Just let us know what's the what, and we'll teach him to stay outta our turf."

Cyclops walked a short distance away pulling his com-link out as he went, to call Professor Xavier. He didn't think he was going to be happy with the answers he got.


	6. Friends or Rivals?

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters contained within.

That would be Joss Whedon, Stan Lee, Marvel Comics

Friends or Rivals

&

While Cyclops was making his phone call, the Scoobies and Jubilee made small talk about different battles they had been in. There seemed to be a common theme to them, in as they all were used to overcoming whatever obstacles were thrown in their way to stop the bad guys. They had all lost loved ones also, either through separation or death.

Jubilee had asked about something Xander had said earlier, something about taking Magneto to the tomb where someone named Angel had found the glove. Xander told her a brief version about Faith's second Watcher Gwendolyn Post. He kept it as short as possible but wanted to let the X-men know that the Glove of Myhnegon was well and truly beyond Magneto's reach.

He told about Buffy finding Lagos in the cemetery searching for the glove and cutting off his head with an axe. Faith told the part of finding Gwendolyn Post wearing the glove and Buffy severing her arm with a piece of glass to remove it. As for destroying the glove, all Faith would say is that it was consumed by a spell called the Living Flame and is gone forever. Through all of this, Buffy remained strangely silent.

When Jubilee asked, "But who is Angel?" Buffy responded quietly, "He helped protect the Hellmouth and he is no longer with us."

For some reason, as they told Jubilee this story, she seemed to become more and more uncomfortable. None of the Scoobies noticed, but Giles did.

Giles had been listening and watching Jubilee when a thought occurred to him. "Ahem", clearing his throat he asked, "Jubilee, you said that the X-men were based out of New York, correct?"

Jubilee answered sounding slightly suspicious, "Yes, we operate out of Professor Xavier's school, but go wherever we're needed."

"Then might I ask what brought you to Sunnydale?" Giles inquired with a lift of his eyebrow.

The scoobies all went silent as the realization of what this question meant dawned on them. In order for the X-men to have been in the area to save Willow, that means there was a mutant threat here that they were investigating. Maybe even this guy Magneto.

Jubilee had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. She replied, "Well Mr. Giles, since Cyclops is actually the field leader of the X-men, I would prefer if we wait for him to answer that question." She hurried on to explain, "I'm really not trying to hide anything from you. It's just that what he learns from the Professor might help it all make more sense."

Jubilee glanced at the others in the room and could see that she and Cyclops had just lost a lot of ground in the trust department. They should have just come clean as soon as they learned about the Slayers and scoobies fighting the forces of darkness here in Sunnydale. Well, it was too late now, water under the bridge and all that. She just hoped that when they told the slayers and company what they were trying to protect, it would restore some of the ground they had lost. The Slayers would be too good an ally to just walk away from. Besides she found that she was really starting to like them. They seemed more like a family than a team. It was something she had come to value when she became an X-man.

Cyclops had finished his phone call and was coming back to the group. He noticed right away a change on the atmosphere, a shifting of the group dynamic. It was evident in the way the slayers were both standing, almost assuming a fighting stance. The scoobies were likewise in defensive postures and Mr. Giles was looking at him like he was under a microscope.

"Okay, what did I miss?" he asked.

Jubilee went over to stand next to him and said "Mr. Giles was wondering how we happened to be in the neighborhood to help out Willow, when we are based out of New York. I told them I would let you explain it when you were done talking to the Professor."

Cyclops let out a sigh, "I thought someone would ask that sooner or later. We were on a mission to L.A. to check on a rumor that Magneto was meeting with a law firm out there that deals primarily with less than ethical clients. The firm's name is Wolfram and Hart. The Professor wanted us to try and find out what Magneto was looking for. Once we had more information, the rest of our team would have been brought in to try and stop him."

Cyclops continued, "What we found out was that Wolfram and Hart had told Magneto of the supposed existence of a metal glove called the Glove of Myhnegon. The glove, of Gaelic origin, acts as a focus for lightning. It gathers it in and stores the energy, which can then be sent out like a bolt towards any intended target. It is immensely powerful and if added to Magneto's power over electromagnetic fields, it would make him invincible."

Jubilee picked up the story at this point saying, "We found out from an informant that Wolfram and Hart told Magneto that the glove was hidden in the town of Sunnydale, California. We came here as soon as we could, but obviously we were too late to stop Magneto from hurting anyone. For that we are very sorry." Turning to Cyclops she said, "at least Magneto will never get the glove, these guy's say it was destroyed with some sort of spell."

Cyclops tried to explain to the scoobies, "You have to understand, if Magneto succeeds in consolidating the power of the Brotherhood not only would he try to rule over the mutant population, but he would enslave all of humankind. He must be stopped at all costs. I told the Professor that Magneto was already here and he's gathering some of the other X-men to send as backup once we find out where Magneto's base of operations is."

"Let me get this straight one eye," Faith began in a low and dangerous voice, "You knew he was coming here. You knew he was dangerous. You knew what he was after and you decided to just follow him around for awhile while he slaughtered and maimed the people of this town. You never gave a thought to warning anyone?"

"We didn't intend to standby while people got hurt. We didn't think he would move as fast as he did when he got here. How were we supposed to know he already had a demon here looking for the glove and who could we have told? You don't advertise, remember." Cyclops said anger evident in his voice.

Buffy went ballistic. "That's bullshit and you know it. The Watchers Council tried to recruit your Professor Xavier. That means he knew what they were and what they do. Are you trying to tell me he couldn't have gotten word to them that one of your mutant psycho's was looking for a mystical object and might be on his way to the Hellmouth to find it? You could have at least made an anonymous call to the local police department to warn them a mass murderer was on the way."

'Yea, like they would have been able to handle a mutant" Cyclops yelled back.

"We try to keep mutant problems inside of the mutant community", Jubilee added, trying to calm everyone down. "There is so much bad press about mutants already that telling everyone about a crazy mutant bent on world domination would destroy any credibility the rest of us have."

"And that is just working out so well for you, is it?" Giles stated.

For the first time since relaying his story Xander spoke up, "Listen, it's not going to do us any good rehashing the shoulda, coulda, woulda's. If you're friends or rivals doesn't really matter right now. Let's concentrate on where this clown might be holed up and how we're gonna take him out."

"I can't believe I'm saying this", Giles replied, "but Xander's right. If we had something that this Magneto had been in contact with, we could try and cast a locator spell to determine his location. Unfortunately, I don't see how that would be possible now."

Willow started jumping up and down, "Ooo, Ooo, I could modify the locator spell to find the auras of mutants. Since Cyclops and Jubilee are right here, if another one pops up on the map it must be Magneto."

"You can trace mutant auras?" Jubilee asked.

"Well, maybe. I mean I have you and Cyclops here so I can tune the spell to the mutant variations in your auras, so it should be possible." Willow said.

"Have you ever cast spells like this before?" Cyclops wanted to know.

"I've been practicing some witchcraft for the last couple of years and Giles knows all about spells and incantations, right Giles?" Willow asked hopefully.

Giles responded looking thoughtful, "Yes, well I admit I have some limited experience. It is certainly worth a try."

"You know," Cyclops mused, "This just might work. It sounds like a mystic version of the Professor's Cerebro. It's a machine that amplifies his telepathic power and allows him to detect traces of mutants all over the world."

"Couldn't the Professor use this Cerebro to find Magneto?" Xander wanted to know.

"Not really, usually Magneto wears a helmet that prevents Cerebro from detecting his brainwaves. That way the Professor can't keep track of where he is." Cyclops replied.

"Willow, you help me gather the books and crystals we will need." Giles said giving out assignments, "Xander, I need you to get a street map of Sunnydale and the surrounding areas, the bigger the better. Buffy and Faith, try not to hurt the visitors from out of town, alright. We will need their help once we find out where Magneto is hiding."

&

A short time later all the preparations were in place. The map Xander brought was spread across the research table in the middle of the library. There were candles at the four points of the compass holding the map down. Willow and Giles were putting the finishing touches on the modified spell. The slayers and X-men were trying their best to not bait each other; they all realized that they needed to put their petty differences aside for the moment.

Jubilee and Cyclops were leaning up against the caged area when Oz started to wake up. The sudden noises from behind them startled them into battle mode. Whirling around Jubilee's hands were glowing with energy and Cyclops was ready to trigger his visor. Faith and Buffy were there in a flash, standing between the X-men and Oz.

"Chill, now" Faith said to Cyclops. "If you fry one hair on his furry little bod, you'll be giving your colon an optic blast cleansing."

Buffy stood in front of Jubilee staring into her eyes. Buffy's eyes had gone a deep emerald green as she said. "He's a friend of ours. No one hurts our friends and gets away with it. No one, it's not allowed. He got hurt trying to stop your wacko friend from killing anymore humans at the Bronze, so I would take Faith's advice if I were you."

Slowly the energy at Jubilee's hands dissipated. Then she and Cyclops took a slow step backwards

Willow had come over when she realized Oz was awake. "Oz, how are you? Does it hurt anywhere?" She was moving to unlock the cage and let Oz out when she finally noticed his clothes were pretty much shredded and his private parts weren't so private. "Oh, Oh, Xander", she called "can you get some of the spare clothes we keep for Oz so he can get dressed?"

"I'm on it Wills." Xander replied heading into Giles's office.

Xander came back out with a pair of jeans and a Dingo's tee shirt which he took in to Oz. "Can someone catch me up on what's going on?" Oz asked a little groggily.

"Xander, please bring Oz up to date for us while Willow and I complete the locator spell, will you?" Giles asked. "Willow if you please, we should get this done now."

By the time Oz was dressed and Xander finished telling him about mutants and the impending minor apocalypse, everyone else was standing by the map staring down. As Xander and Oz walked up to stand beside them, they saw three glowing pulsing spots on the map. Two of them had a slight bluish tint and were hovering over the spot where the high school was located on the map. The third had a red tint that reminded Xander of a heart beating. This one was hovering over a building on the outskirts of the town.

Xander looked up meeting Buffy's troubled eyes as he asked, "The mansion?"


	7. Old Places and New Faces

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters contained within.

That would be Joss Whedon, Stan Lee, Marvel Comics

Old Places and New Faces

&

"Do you guys know that place pretty well?" Cyclops asked.

"Yea, we've spent some time in and out of there over the years." Xander replied. "It's an old mansion that sits off by itself. It's big and was vacant until your buddy set up house. There are lots of areas where an ambush could be set up and it's far enough off the beaten track that almost anything that goes on there would never get noticed."

Jubilee spat out, "He is NOT our buddy".

"Old mansion, huh," Cyclops asked. "Mostly made of stone and hardwood?"

"Yup, and lots and lots of wrought iron fixtures." Faith put in.

Cyclops said, "Okay, I'll call the Professor back; the rest of our team can be here in a little over an hour using the Blackbird."

"A little over an hour, but California is over 2,000 miles from New York." Xander said his inner soldier perking up.

Cyclops smiled, "Yea, the Blackbird can do Mach 3, just over 2,200 miles an hour." "What do you have in the way of non-metal weapons?" He continued, going into strategist mode.

"The usual," Faith said in a bored voice, "stake, staff, crossbow. Oh yea, also a couple of kickass Slayers."

Willow spoke up, "The smart money is on the last."

"Alright, gather what you have and we'll separate out the stuff Magneto could use against us." Cyclops ordered.

"You know, guests are usually a little more polite, like using manners and stuff." Buffy said. "You keep throwing orders around and you might be spending the rest of the night in a hospital bed with the nurses trying to figure out how to put you back together."

Cyclops sighed, "Please?"

Faith shrugged her shoulder, "Well, as long as you said please."

As Cyclops moved off to make his call, the Slayers, Xander, Oz and Jubilee started pulling weapons from the armory. They sorted them according to lethality and materials of construction. Meanwhile Giles and Willow were looking for a spell that would help to contain or minimize Magneto's power.

When the weapons were laid out on the table where the map had been, Xander took Buffy to the side. "You gonna be alright Buff?"

She looked up at him, "Yea, I shoulda known he would be at the mansion. I think that place is cursed for me. Every time I go there someone dies. It seems like all I have are bad memories of that place, between that Post bitch dying there and Angel, twice."

Xander gave her a one arm hug and said, "Well, just remember, I'm here to give you good memories anywhere you want, any time you want." Then he waggled his eyebrows at her surprising Buffy into a laugh.

She pushed him away saying, "Sounds like a fresh round of nightmares to me."

Faith, who had picked up the conversation with her enhanced hearing, called over, "Hey B, it might do you some good to give Soldier-boy a bounce. You know, use him then lose him?" She then gave the blonde slayer one of her blinding smiles.

Xander stood there with his mouth opening and closing not sure what to say. Finally he settled on, "Hey, we're trying to have a private moment here, ya mind?"

Buffy laughed again, "You should see the look on your face Xan, priceless."

They went to join the others with the somber mood broken for now.

Cyclops came back over and began to relay his conversation with Professor X.

"The Professor had the team gathered and standing by the Blackbird. I sent him the coordinates for the mansion and they will meet us there." Cyclops then turned to Giles, "Professor Xavier would prefer if you could keep the X-men's involvement in this out of the Watchers Council's report, if you can that is. He feels that if the Council knows we've been working with the slayers, they would try harder to recruit mutants for their own use."

"Yes, I can certainly see his point", Giles said. "If at all possible we will keep your involvement just amongst ourselves. Agreed?", He asked looking around at the Scoobies.

After getting nods and murmurs of assent from all present he moved over to where Willow was working while asking, "You said the rest of your team is on the way?"

"Who's coming?", Jubilee asked.

"Jean, Logan, and Ororo." Cyclops replied nodding.

Faith asked, "Who are they?"

Jubilee answered, "They are some of the senior members of the X-men. They've been through a lot of fights with Magneto and will be able to help."

"More importantly, what can they do?", Buffy asked.

Cyclops answered this question, "Jean Grey is a powerful telekinetic that has been with Professor Xavier and the X-men almost since the beginning."

"Ororo Munroe, otherwise known as Storm, has the power to control the weather. She can also open almost any lock you're likely to come across."

"Logan is, well Logan. We don't know his last name, but he's known as Wolverine. He has an incredibly fast healing power and he's been trained in several martial arts disciplines. He can also extend bone knives from his fists."

"Wicked cool", Faith said. "It'd be great to have built in weapons like that."

Giles called, "Can you come over here for a minute? I think Willow may have found something we can use."

When they had all gathered around the table, Giles started to explain what they had found. "We were cross referencing some ancient spells that are used to contain mystical forces during a summoning, and found that they work by containing the electromagnetic field generated by a being's aura. Thereby preventing the entity within the casting area from moving beyond the specified boundary."

Willow picked up the explanation, "I then went online to find any man made machines that may be able to neutralize or inhibit electromagnetic fields and their principles of operation. When we combined the two theories we came up with this." She showed the group a diagram on the computer screen along with a few verses in Latin that only Willow and Giles could read.

Xander said, "Way to make with the big brain Wills."

Oz whispered to Willow, "I love your big brain.", which made Willow blush.

Giles continued, "We will need to make a fairly small casting as the larger the area, the weaker the containment field will be. Perhaps we could set it up in the rear courtyard and draw him into it somehow?"

"Or force him into it", Buffy said with vengeance in her eyes.

Cyclops said, "I don't know how easy it will be to force him into anything. Others have tried and Magneto always seems to come out on top."

"First things first", Buffy said ignoring Cyclops' comment. "Giles, how long do you need to set up this spell?"

Giles took his glasses off to start polishing them as he responded, "The actual casting of the spell shouldn't take very long. Willow and I need to cast the spell from fairly close to the circles location. However setting up the containment circles could be fairly difficult without being seen."

"How about if we cast the spell here and direct it into crystals?" Willow mused, "Then Faith and Buffy could just place the crystals around Magneto and presto, instant containment field." Willow finished with excitement in her voice.

"Yes that could work." Giles said to Buffy, "If you and Faith could set them up in the courtyard, perhaps our new friends could keep Magneto occupied while you work and then help draw him into it?"

"We can be very distracting when we put our minds to it" Jubilee said.

"Plus we'll have reinforcements there." Cyclops added. "If Magneto thinks it's just the X-men coming after him, Faith and Buffy may take him by surprise."

Buffy said, "Great, you two get started. Cyclops, can you and Jubilee give Giles and Willow a hand? Xander, Oz, after we leave I want you guys to stay here with Giles and Willow where it's safe, no arguments. The last thing we need is to give that nut job an opportunity to take hostages."

"You just wanna keep us outta the action", Xander grumbled.

"Damn straight", Buffy said.

"Alright we'll hang here until you get back", Oz said.

"As soon as Red and G-man finish powering up those crystals, we can move out", Faith said to Cyclops and Jubilee. "Why don't you get an ETA on your friends? Buffy and I will finish getting packed, and then we'll all head out to visit old places and new faces."

&

Shortly thereafter the X-men and Slayers were headed through the streets of Sunnydale towards the mansion and Magneto. They would meet the rest of the X-men in the field about a mile behind the mansion were the Blackbird could land.

The Slayers were carrying the five crystals that Giles and Willow imbued with the containment spell. They could feel a slight vibration coming from each of them. Setting them up would be fairly simple. One crystal at each of the cardinal compass points, then when Magneto was inside the perimeter, the fifth one gets thrown into the middle with him to activate the spell. The containment field would hold until the deactivation spell was recited.

The team of X-men would distract Magneto while the Slayers set the four crystals out, then all of them would work to maneuver him inside them. A very simple well thought out plan.

What could go wrong, right?


	8. Best Laid Plans of Scoobies and Man

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters contained within.

That would be Joss Whedon, Stan Lee, Marvel Comics

Best Laid Plans of Scoobies and Man

&

Coming up to the field where they were to meet the rest of the X-team, Buffy and Faith felt their Slayer sense's go on alert. There was nothing to be seen in the field, but they could feel a tiny change in the flow of air currents. As if there was something big that the slight wind was being bent around.

That's why it was a big surprise to Cyclops and Jubilee when the slayers walked right up to the cloaked Blackbird and Faith knocked on the hull.

"How the hell did you guys know it was there?" Jubilee asked.

"It was more of a sensation than anything else, we could feel a difference in the wind and figured it was your plane." Buffy shrugged.

As they were talking, there was a breach in the underside of the hull and a ramp lowered. Two women and a man came walking down the ramp. They were dressed in similar black leather uniforms to the ones that Cyclops and Jubilee were wearing.

"Damn B", Faith said after letting out a low whistle, "I'm feeling kinda underdressed. Our leather pants and tank tops make us look hotter than those jumpsuits would, but there's something about a uniform."

"Please," Buffy said, "Like there's any way you would get into an outfit like that."

Faith raised an eyebrow at who she assumed was Logan, "Well there's one uniform I wouldn't mind getting into."

"Ladies, may I introduce you to Jean Grey, Storm, and Wolverine. They're the backup the Professor sent" Cyclops said to the slayers. Then turning to the newly arrived X-men he said, "This blonde girl is Buffy and the dark girl is Faith, they're the Slayers the Professor told you about."

Jean and Storm smiled at the girls while Wolverine just nodded and said, "Meet'cha."

Jean continued looking at the two slayers trying to scan any surface thoughts. All she could get was a kinda of white noise. The Slayers were staring back at her with identical smirks on their faces. The dark one, Faith, said, "You really shouldn't do that to people you just met." Then the one called Buffy continued, "You might not like what you find when you go peeping through windows."

Jean was taken back in surprise, "I'm sorry for the intrusion. I try to make sure people are who they say they are before I let my friends depend on them. How were you two able to block your thoughts?"

"All part of the slayer package, speed, strength, accelerated healing, and ability to shield our thoughts. It keeps the demons outta our heads," Buffy said. Then she added in a low voice, "external demons anyhow."

"Sooo" Faith began, "If you're the telepath, then you're the weather witch" she said looking to Storm. "You'd be great to have around when we want to go to the beach."

Storm gave the girl an inquisitive look. She wasn't quite sure how to take these two. On the one hand, Cyclops vouched for their fighting abilities. On the other, they seemed too young to have 

truly been tried in battle. Storm decided to keep an open mind for the time being and just watch them.

"We better get going" Buffy said to Cyclops. "Moonlight's wasting."

"Okay." Turning to the X-men he gave them a rundown of the plan. "We will distract Magneto while Buffy and Faith set up the crystals. Once that's done we'll all try to lure or force Magneto into the center and Buffy will throw the fifth crystal in to activate the spell. Once Magneto's power is neutralized, we'll contact the Professor for suggestions on how to transport him back to one of our containment units. All clear?"

There were noises of assent and they all headed off towards the mansion and hopefully the final battle with Magneto.

As they approached the mansion Faith and Buffy started feeling the muscles in their lower abdomen begin to tighten. "Great, just what we needed", Buffy grumbled.

"Come on B, this is Sunnyhell, you know you can't be out after dark and walk twenty feet without running into at least one" Faith said with a smile on her face. "Consider it a pre-game warm-up."

"What're you two talking about?" Wolverine growled.

"Vamps" Buffy replied. "It looks like Magnet head has branched out in the henchman department."

Wolverine sniffed the air. "I smell something, dry, snakelike."

Faith said, "Yup, that would be them, cold blooded and reptilian."

"Vamps as in vampires?" Storm asked.

Cyclops replied "Yes, Sunnydale is on a Hellmouth. It attracts an unusual amount of demonic activity, or so I'm told. That's why the slayers are based here."

"Doesn't really change the plan much though," Faith said. "Just burn em, take their heads off, or put a wood stake through their heart and you'll dust them."

Buffy said, "Once they're turned, they're no longer human. There's only three rules, don't die, don't get bit and kill em quick."

Jubilee added, "Be ready for them, they can move really fast. The first time we saw them in motion it took us by surprise."

"We'll take out any vamps around the outside walls, then head for the courtyard to set up." Faith said loading the crossbow. "You guys make your way inside and see if you can find your boy."

Buffy handed Jean and Storm a couple of stakes, then turned to give one to Wolverine. He looked down at the stake and held his fist up. Three twelve inch bone blades slowly extended from between the knuckles on the back of his hand and he smiled. "Brought my own, darlin, but thanks anyway."

The Slayers and X-men then split up to find separate ways into the mansion.

&

Faith and Buffy came slowly around the back wall of the mansion. Up ahead they could sense two vampire guards lurking in the shadows. As they moved closer the vampires separated, moving in opposite directions on their rounds. As one came closer to the slayers, Buffy got in position to stake him, while Faith took careful aim at the other vamps heart with the crossbow. When the nearer vamp was in range, Buffy lunged forward piercing its heart and turning it into drifting dust. At the same time Faith squeezed down on the crossbows trigger and the bolt flew unerringly into the vampire's heart downrange, he too became nothing more than silently drifting ash.

"Two down, more to come. Hope the X-lets can hold their own." Faith murmured.

Buffy responded, "I'm sure they can handle it, after all they fight super powered mutants on a regular basis. How hard can a few vamps be?" She finished with a chuckle.

After Buffy and Faith left them, the X-men split into two teams to penetrate the mansion. Cyclopes, Jubilee and Jean circled around to the side to find a way in. Storm and Wolverine found access to a second floor balcony and gained entry that way.

Cyclops, Jean and Jubilee came around the corner of the mansion and ran smack into two vampires and two demons walking towards them. The groups stopped and just stared at each other for a moment in shock. Then everyone started to move at once.

Jean threw up her hands in a warding off gesture and concentrated on slowing down the creatures that were rushing toward them. Being mystical in nature, she wasn't able to stop them, but she did slow them slightly. This would give Cyclops and Jubilee a better chance of responding to the attacks.

Cyclops shoulder rolled to the right, firing off a tight optic blast as he came back up to his feet. Ten feet away one of the vampires had a hole blown clean through his upper chest and started 

quickly burning from the inside out, leaving nothing but a crumbling dust skeleton where it had stood.

He then snapped his head to the left and fired another blast at the demon that was charging down on him. Just before this second blast was able to hit its target, a glob of acidic snot that the demon had spit at him grazed his shoulder then hit the ground burning it. When the optic blast hit the demon it let out a howl of pain as it exploded in a rain storm of guts and blood that covered the wall behind it.

Cyclops turned to look for Jean and Jubilee, ignoring the pain from the wound on his shoulder.

Jean face was mask like with the amount of force she was projecting to stall the vampires and demons. Jubilee was firing energy blasts in a steady, controlled stream that made Cyclops proud.

Jubilee felt Cyclops move on her right, but refused to take her eyes off their opponents. She remembered too well how fast the vamp could get around behind them. Then suddenly, she could feel the force projection from Jean that was slowing down the enemy. Jubilee immediately sent a barrage of ultraviolet light pulses in a tracking pattern starting in front of her and cutting forward and to the left to fry anything that would be moving to attack her. After the fifth blast there was a bright incandescent flash. Where the flash had been there was nothing left but a shifting pile of ash.

Coming at her from directly behind the ash pile, was the last demon. It was at least seven feet tall and had what appeared to be spikes forming from its forearms that slipped into its hands to be used as weapons. She seemed to remember hearing about a mutant that had a similar ability but looked human and wondered briefly if they were related. As the demon drew back its arm to throw a spike, Jubilee fired an energy blast at it exploding the spike and the hand that held it. She was hoping the demon would take the hint and back off, as an X-man she wasn't really use to using deadly force, but this demon was either stupid or stubborn. Either way she didn't have time to reason with it and as it kept coming, screaming in pain and fury, she sent an energy blast straight into its face exploding its head off its shoulders. The body took three more steps and fell to the ground. Just because she didn't want to, nor was use to killing, didn't mean she was squeamish when it was necessary.

Jubilee looked over to her right to find Cyclops standing there with a small smile on his face. "Not too shabby, Jubes" he said.

"I see you didn't waste any time either" she replied.

Jean came over to look at Cyclops' injury, "You have a burn on your shoulder, let me take a look at it."

Cyclops looked down at his shoulder. There was a small patch of burnt leather that was slightly smoking and he could see the skin under it had been seared. It hurt a little but he didn't think it would interfere with the use of his arm. He would probably carry the scar as a memento for the rest of his days though. Well, it could just be added to the rest of them he had.

"Not now, I'll be fine, let's keep moving. We don't want to be late for the party," he told her as they continued looking for a way into the mansion.

A dozen paces from where their battle took place they found a set of French doors set into the wall. Peering through, they saw a large receiving room that appeared to be empty. Quietly opening the door they moved inside, looking around for any sign of Magneto.

As they moved toward the center of the room, there was a low sound of rushing air. Suddenly Jean grabbed for her neck, and then collapsed to the floor. Cyclops and Jubilee found themselves seized from behind and were turned to face each other roughly. There was a low clapping sound as a familiar voice said, "Very impressive, however, you will not find me as easy to dispatch as my guards. If either one of you tries to activate your powers, I promise you both will be killed immediately. Then I will take my time with the lovely Jean Grey."

It appeared they found Magneto after all.


	9. Been There Done That

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters contained within.

That would be Joss Whedon, Stan Lee, Marvel Comics

Been There, Done That

&

As Faith and Buffy came through the gate into the courtyard, they could see that the doors they had crashed into, while stopping Gwendolyn Post, were still missing. At some point someone had cleaned up the shattered glass and wood. Carefully making their way further inside, they could hear voices coming from the mansion. From the sounds of it, the X-men had Magneto and company's full attention.

"Let's get these spotted, and get in there. They're gonna need some help" Buffy said quietly to Faith.

Faith whispered back, "Okay, which way is North again?"

Buffy pulled out the diagram Willow had made for them and pointed off to the left. "Over there at the base of the wall, about five feet from that flower pot." She told Faith.

They went quickly around the courtyard spotting the crystals exactly where Willow had indicated on the diagram. When they were finished, they stood just outside the doorway getting ready to move inside. Buffy had a distracted look on her face and Faith had to call her name twice before she got Buffy's attention.

"B, …, Buffy, you okay?" Faith said.

Buffy blinked her eyes and focused on Faith, "Yea, fine. Let's go."

As they turned to go inside, two bodies suddenly came flying into the room from deeper inside the mansion. They hit a wood table and smashed it to splinters.

"Looks like they started without us, oh well, been there, done that." Faith said with a shrug and ran into the room to join the battle.

&

Wolverine and Storm had entered from a second floor balcony. After leaving the room they were in, they approached the landing overlooking the receiving room just as Magneto had made his entrance below.

Carefully assessing the situation, they stood back slightly watching for the opportunity to attack without risking the other X-men. Jean, who looked to be unconscious, was being picked up by a couple of vampires and moved out of the middle of the floor. Cyclops and Jubilee were being held by demons and Magneto appeared to be getting ready to bind them with a candelabra stand that was twisting and stretching in the air in front of him.

"Did you really think I would not feel the presence of such a large amount of metal in the area as your Blackbird? Tell me", Magneto continued, "Where are your other friends?"

"We gotta move before he can wrap them up." Wolverine said to Storm.

"Agreed." Storm replied and her eyes started fading to white.

A strong wind started to rise outside and blew the front door in. Wolverine jumped off of the landing and extending his claws as he landed, he sliced the arms off of the demons holding Cyclops and Jubilee. Now free, they turned to take on Magneto as Wolverine spun around plunging his claws into the chests of the demons and shredding their hearts.

The noise of the front door being blown in brought more vampires pouring into the room. Cyclops and Jubilee immediately started attacking them and had to leave Magneto alone for the moment.

The vampires that had been moving Jean began racing back toward the X-men, but they were picked up by the wind blowing in through the door and sent flying into another room. Storm, who had raised into the air on the winds currents, came floating down to join the fray. Summoning a lightning bolt through the room's skylight she directed it at the candelabra stand still in the air in front of Magneto. The resulting flash and explosion threw Magneto backwards into the next room where the vampires had recently been blown.

The X-men continued to press the attack, slicing through the vampires and demons as they desperately tried to eliminate as many of the overwhelming numbers as they could. Storm rushed over to check on Jean, as those vampires and demons that were still able to move retreated through the doorway trying to rally around Magneto.

Storm found Jean's pulse and her breathing was normal, she appeared to be alright, just unconscious. Storm grabbed the small dart in Jean's neck and removed it. Then, staying by her fellow X-man to protect her, she watched the battle continue in the next room through the doorway.

&

Faith grabbed a shattered table leg from off the floor and stabbed one vampire in the back, turning him to ash. Then spinning around she slammed it into the heart of the other vampire that was just regaining his feet. The force of her thrust jammed the vampire up against the wall. In his eyes was a look of shock and surprise as he slowly disintegrated.

Buffy had moved into the room right behind Faith, but now was frozen in place as she saw Faith stab the vampire. Her eyes were watching Faith and the vampire, but her mind was seeing herself and Angel.

_Buffy and Angel were standing in front of Acathala. The look of confusion in his eyes, as the sword extending from Buffy's hand pierced his chest and spilled his blood. The unasked question on his lips, of how she could be doing this to him, didn't she know he loved her? _

Faith spun around just as there was a flash and explosion from the other room. Than Magneto came flying through the doorway and knocked her into the wall.

"B, a little help here would be of the good, if you don't mind!" Faith shouted at Buffy as she tried to regain her footing.

Buffy was standing there shaking her head slowly. Her eyes slightly glazed over.

A demon came running into the room and seeing the Faith off balance, grabbed her by the throat and held her against the wall. It started squeezing, slowly cutting off Faith's breath.

"Buuuffffffyyyy, help" Faith gasped out.

Buffy heard a voice calling, it seemed far away. Faith? Was that Faith? Faith wasn't here that day. Giving her head a couple of quick shakes to try and clear her memories she looked around the room with clear eyes. Buffy ran over to the demon that had a death grip on Faith and delivered a flying side kick to its head. The demon let go of Faith as its neck broke with a dry snapping sound. It fell over on its side. Its head was hanging loosely from its neck, with the top of its spine ripped through the scaly flesh.

Faith stood there gasping for breath and holding her throat, where the marks from the demons clawed hands were already starting to fade.

Meanwhile, Buffy was looking at Magneto; she started moving toward him intent on finishing this one way or the other. Half way towards her target, she heard a sizzling noise off to the side and looking over she saw……….

_Angel, he was standing next to the basin that a moment ago held the Living Flame that had destroyed the Glove of Myhnegon. Only now something had gone terribly wrong. The Flame was reaching out and engulfing Angel. No, this couldn't be right. Angel was a champion of good. He was back from hell and came back from the brink of insanity. All that pain and sorrow couldn't have been for nothing. As she watched, helpless to stop it, Angel's eyes once again found hers and had in them an expression of ultimate sorrow before they melted away in their sockets. He was leaving her again. This time forever._

Cyclops had just blasted another vampire as it was trying to attack Jubilee from behind. Looking over towards the courtyard, he saw Buffy. Faith was standing by the wall behind her, coughing and rubbing her throat. Magneto was only a few short paces away from Buffy, but she didn't seem to see him. In fact, she didn't seem to be seeing anything but the spot where the vampire he just fried had been standing.

From his other side he could hear Jubilee and Wolverine taking care of the demons and vampires that were left. He didn't know where Magneto had found so many on such short notice, but knew he wasn't giving him the chance to get more.

Magneto finally got to his feet. He looked around at the forces he had commanded and saw they were completely decimated. He decided that, discretion being the better part of valor; he needed to get the hell out there and quickly. Concentrating his powers, he reached out to every piece of metal in the room. Commanding the electromagnetic fields to do his bidding he thrust out into the space. Torch stands, chairs, tables, all manner of fixtures began raining through the room. Each object flying faster than the last, not directed at any one person but at everyone.

The X-men stood together to try and deflect the majority of the missiles, but there was only so much they could do. At least Storm and Jean were safe, out of the path of destruction, in the other room. Cyclops and Jubilee blasted a clear path through the center of the maelstrom. Faith 

dropped to the floor and used an over turned couch as a barricade. Wolverine used his claws to slash the onslaught from the air.

Buffy was hit by a small table inlaid with silver. She stumbled backwards towards the open courtyard. Magneto ducked around the side of her to try and make his escape.

The three X-men moved as one to the door. They had to stop Magneto from getting away. If they lost him now, no one knew how long it would be before they could track him again. As they closed the distance, the grating from the fireplace slammed into their backs driving all three of them forward and into Buffy.

All four of them fell stumbling into the middle of the courtyard. Unfortunately Buffy still had the fifth crystal, the one that activated Giles and Willows spell, still on her. There was a flash of light that cycled through the colors of a rainbow and a feeling of being in a pressurized chamber.

Storm came running into the courtyard just as Cyclops jumped to his feet to chase after Magneto. He was able to take four steps, and then was pushed back. It was like pushing into a sheet of plastic. It would give a little then snap back into place.

Jubilee was pushing against the barrier that held them, trying to push energy through her hands into it to form a hole. There didn't seem to be any effect at all on it. Meanwhile Wolverine just attacked it the good old fashion way, slashing over and over with his claws to try and rend an opening.

Storm said, "Cyclopes, perhaps your optic blast could provide an opening."

Before Cyclops could respond though, a voice called out "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Faith came walking up to join the group. She noticed that Buffy hadn't gotten up off the ground, but was just sitting there with her hands around her knees and her head hanging down.

"It might just bounce around inside there. Red is very good at what she does", Faith continued. "If she meant that field to hold, there is no one and nothing that will breach it." She then said with a smirk, "Looks like you guys will just have to get cozy until I can bring Red and company back here to perform the deactivation spell."

"We're supposed to just wait here and do nothing while you run off to bring help?" Wolverine growled.

"What about Magneto? He's getting away." Jubilee added.

"He's already gotten away." Cyclops said. "He's no doubt long gone by now."

"Well, Stormy here can try and revive your telepath, but yea, the rest of you oughta just relax." Faith replied.

Faith then got as close to where Buffy was sitting as she could. "Hey B, it'll be alright. I'll get the cavalry and be back in a flash. No sweat, right?" she said trying to look in Buffy's eyes.

Buffy responded in a low voice, "You'll probably be better off away from me anyhow. At least I didn't get you caught in our own trap."

Faith laughed, "Well that's cause I was smart enough to hide under a sofa instead of standing in the middle of a hail storm. I'll be back as soon as I can. Don't run off now."

Buffy rolled her eyes as Faith took off out the gate. There was nothing to do now but wait for help to come. She thought again how much she really hated to have to be rescued.


	10. So Long Fare Thee Well

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters contained within.

That would be Joss Whedon, Stan Lee, Marvel Comics

So Long, Fare Thee Well

&

Faith made it back to the library in record time. Coming through the doors, Giles, Xander, Oz and Willow all turned to her with expectant looks on their faces. Willow went into immediate babble mode.

"Faith, where are the others, did the spell work, where's Buffy is she alright, what happened to the X-men, Why are you here by yourself?"

Oz took her gently by the arm and tried to calm her, "Shh, Will, one question at a time. Come on take a deep breath, that's it, good girl." He said.

Xander gave Faith his lopsided grin and said, "Just pick any of the above questions to start and sorta work your way through them."

Faith shot Willow an annoyed look and turned to Giles. "The spell worked, but Buffy and a few of the X-dudes got caught instead of Mr. Purple cloak. They're still back at the mansion and we need to go and release them. Everyone is alright. The big bad got away. I came to get you so you can do the deactivation thingy", she told him in a bored voice.

Giles said, "Very well. I'll grab what we need and be with you in a moment. Willow, can you re-cast the mutant location spell? Perhaps we can get a lead on our adversary's current whereabouts." Then he went into his office gathering books and ingredients as he walked.

As Willow went to work on the spell, Xander said, "So Faith, don't keep us waiting, make with the blow by blow."

Faith hopped up on the counter and crossed her legs as she started the tale, "When we got to the mansion, our boy had vamps and demons walking guard duty. Looked like he recruited local talent. Me and Buff went around the back to set up the crystals, while the others found a way inside. We dusted a coupla vamps on the way and got set up. We was just about to go inside when a coupla vamps come flying through the room, it looked like the X-men got an early start. Then we jumped in and started the kill, pussycat, kill routine. Next thing we know, there is shit flying all over the room and Magneto is making a break for the door. Something hit the X-men from behind, they flew into Buffy and all of them stumbled into the center of the crystals and activated the spell. Which brings us to the here and now."

Giles came back out of his office carrying a leather bag full of what he would need for the deactivation spell. He had been listening to Faith's story while in the office. "Any luck, Willow?" he asked.

"I've tried twice Giles and he doesn't seem to be in Sunnydale anymore. Either that or he's found a way to block the spell", Willow said, her voice showing her disappointment.

"Very well, are we ready Faith?" Giles asked.

"Yea, let's get going. As soon as we free up the others, I need to get something to eat. I'm so hungry I could eat a cow." Faith responded.

Giles turned to the others and said, "You should all go home and get some rest. We can meet up again tomorrow and decide where to go from here." This was exactly the wrong thing to say.

Willow burst out, "What do you mean go home? You might need me for the spell. What if something goes wrong?"

Xander said, "We can't just go home without seeing that the Buffster is alright."

"I follow my flag" Oz said with a nod toward Willow.

Giles knew when he was beaten. "Come along if you must, but I assure you I am more than capable of performing the deactivation spell."

&

Dawn was starting to peek over the horizon as the X-men and Scoobies gathered in the field behind the mansion by the Blackbird. Faith had brought Giles, Willow, Xander and Oz all back with her. She had tried to get Oz and Xander to stay away, but they would have none of that. Xander was too worried about Buffy to stay behind and Oz wasn't about to let Willow out of his sight until she was home and safe.

Standing there in groups of five and six, they started their goodbyes. Giles and Willow had informed the X-men of the results of the mutant tracking spell, so the X-men had decided to head back to New York. Maybe the Professor could figure out where Magneto would go next. There was really no reason for them to hang around any longer since the Glove of Myhnegon was permanently beyond his reach. The Slayers wanted to help, but they still had a Hellmouth to patrol and couldn't very well just dash off to the east coast at a moment's notice.

Cyclops was talking with Giles about the challenges of keeping Sunnydale safe. It seems he had developed a certain amount of respect for the older man's resourcefulness. Jean was standing next to him talking with Willow about the differences between telekinesis and witchcraft. They both agreed that it came down to a focusing of will, but couldn't agree on whether witchcraft required a genetic predisposition or if anyone anywhere could learn to do it. Oz just stood there looking on while holding Willow's hand. He was still not letting go of her. Willow wasn't minding that too much.

A few steps away Buffy and Faith were entertaining Wolverine, Jubilee, and Storm with tales of past slayer escapades. Xander was adding in little details the girls had tried to leave out like, which one dropped their stake at a critical time, which one kicked down the wrong door while looking for demons, the story is always in the details.

The two groups were intermingling as they all said their goodbyes. Jubilee and Storm wanted to know if being a Slayer could somehow be a form of genetic mutation. Giles suggested that the Council may never have looked into it that closely, but if he were to guess, there could possibly be some small genetic difference that allowed for certain girls to have the potential to be a Slayer. He further stated that no one was really sure why one girl was chosen while another was not. In the end it was still more mystic than science.

At last it was time for the X-men to leave. As they started boarding the Blackbird, Wolverine turned to the Slayers and said, "You know, if either one of you decides that you need a little change of pace, I'm sure the Professor wouldn't mind you joining up with us. Even just for a little while. I know with the Hellmouth being active that both of you couldn't leave, but maybe you could take turns?"

Buffy and Faith looked at each other. At one time or another they had both pretty much dreamed of a chance to get out of Sunnydale, but somehow those dreams had never been of leaving separately. "Well, thanks for the offer Wolfie, but I can't just go off and leave Blondie here all by herself. Who knows what kind of trouble she might get into?" Faith said with a smile.

"Leave me by myself?" Buffy responded with just the right amount of indignation. "What about you Miss get some, get gone, and leave the bodies wherever they land? If I left you alone for even 10 minutes poor Giles will have polished the glass right out of his glasses and then drop over from a heart attack."

Cyclops said "It would really help us out if we could call on you from time to time, Mr. Giles. We've been running into more and more of what we thought were super-mutants, but now I'm thinking they might have been demons. It would be a great help to us if we could run descriptions past you, to see if there's a chance we would need something more than mutant powers to take care of them."

"Of course, we would be more than happy to help you out. You have my numbers, I can be reached usually at the school library or at home" Giles replied. "Being based on the Hellmouth does keep us pretty busy…."

"Yea, what with the yearly apocalypse and all" Xander interrupted.

"Quite" Giles continued giving Xander an annoyed look. "However we would endeavor to give you whatever aid we could."

Wolverine spoke up "What would be better would be to have a Slayer on the team full time. If either of you decides you want a change of pace we would be happy to have you join us."

Cyclops just stared at Wolverine. The man was known as a loner and Cyclops could not remember him ever offering to have someone join up with the team. He also noticed that Wolverine was looking directly at Faith when he made his invitation. This brought a little smile to his face. Having someone around that Wolverine was interested in would go a long way to relieving his worries where Jean and Wolverine were concerned.

"Don'tcha have to check with the Professor on that one?" Buffy asked.

"As Wolverine said, I'm sure the Professor would more than welcome you." Jean answered, turning to board the Blackbird. "Please take care of yourselves, all of you."

The slayers stood there thinking. Little did they know they were thinking the same thing. Was there really a need for two slayers on the Hellmouth? There were a lot of bad memories in Sunnydale, maybe a change of scenery would be good. If a really big, big bad came to town, maybe the X-men would be able to bring them back quickly.

With these thoughts chasing through both the slayers minds, they watched the Blackbird lift off and disappear through the morning sky. Then with Giles and the Scoobies in tow, they turned and headed back home.


End file.
